Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-09-05
TIE BANNER QUESTION.

To ne Editor Of the Register.
The E~ateliigeaeer having exhausted itself
in lbs efforts to prove that the hanging Of a
hamper in front Of your office with the
words, "God bless our President, the
Commander-in-Chie of our Army and
Navy" on it, was the sole cause of last
Fridays exhibition of bad taste and I'M
gentlemanly conduct on the part Of a
number of the G. A. r. me- in the process
sion, it is but right that the other side OF
the story should be told.
We assert that the H~ateLigeRcer editors
were the authors of the entire trouble; that
they were in q plot to make political capl-
raj ont of the reunion from the first prOpo-
sition for its being held until the ina
blowout on last Friday.
The Chamber of Commerce and the u.
A. X. Posts appointed A joint committee
to prepare for the reunion.
Ii is well known that but few OF the q.
A. K. met with the joint committee, and
that almost everything was lone by the
Chamber OF Commerce representatives.
The selection of the subcommittee by
this Joint committee shows the tine Italian
hand of the Republicans. First, this com
mittee was itself appointed by a Repubh-
can. On the committee was the edltor-ln-
chief of the hteIigeRear, backed by a
Iheavy majority of Republicans. See the
result. Every committee appointed by
them was headed by q Republican, and the
proportion of Republicans To Democrats
among the members was about three or
four To one. Not q Democrat in the city
OF Wheeling was respectable enough To he
placed at the head of n committee to ar
range for q non-partisan reunion.
One of the most striking instances OF
this was the Committee, headed by the
secretary of the Chamber OF Commerce.
While not intending to say one word
against his worth as a man and a citizen,
ID is but fair to state that he was but a
child when the war was on and had only
been q citizen here for four or five years,
vet he was elected to head q Committee,
on which were members of the city and
county government and who had served
during the entire war. Their only dis
qualification for the Craftsmanship was
voting the Democratic ticket.
At the time this non-partisan action was
going on a dispatch was sent over the
country, by q member Of the lntedigeAe6r
staff, saving that the G.. A. K. Posts had
refused 10 invite the President to be pre-
sent at the reunion. This was denied by
the G.. A. K. members and the sender of
the dispatch was proven to be N OF the
LateUigeReer editors. That paper never ex-
.--l Al. -o.,n- G,r ,fa hayipn cont this
lie over the country and by its silence en-
dorsed the insult intended.
These things convinced many prominent
Democrats that the pretence that the re-
union was to be a non-paTtisan affair, was
false and instead of this that it was to
make an occasion for manufacturing capt.
tai for the Republican party.
They called attention to the placing OF
the portraits of every Republican President
on the arch on Market street except that
of K. B. Hayes land he was to be here IN
person. and also the careful omission OF
any reference on the arch or the
streamers stretched across the streets by
the executive committee, to President
Cleveland. He had been honestly elected,
filled the office to the satisfaction OF the
whole people of the country, except a few
Republican politicians, and the desire to
have some notice of the Chief Magistrate
among the decorations for TIE reunion
was only a natural one on the part Of his
friends and supporters.
Determined to rebuke this exhibition OF
smallness on the part of the Republican
CLIQUE, at the head of which was the In
teRiqencer staff. and with no thought or an
tsatioR of Insulting any Of the city's guests,
Mr.. fancy, as he says, had the now
famous banner prepared, and suspended 1t
over Market street early Thursday morning.
Under it the entire trades display marched
on that day without a single objection
being made to it. In this procession were
the InteEigeReer staff. Many Of the same
men who were so deeply insulted on Fri
day, failed to be so ON Thursday. Why
this sudden change in their feelings?
Why did not the LateUigeneer on Friday
morning state in its columns that 1t had
learned that the banner would be OBJ
iected to by G.. A. K. men from Pittsburg,
and call on the executive committee to re-
quest its removal? The reason for its not
doing so was that this would have spoiled
the plot made by q miserable penny-a-
liner from Pittsburg and its editors. Tins
fellow Green" or Howell, of fragrant
memory here, wrote a tissue OF lies to
the Dispatch, of Pittsburg, which were
intended to inflame the minds Of the q. A.
K. men of that city and prepare them for
the course pursued by them on Friday.
The removal of the banner would have
spoiled this scheme. The men who lied
about Cleveland's Invitation were capable
of connecting and writing the lies about
the banner. When those mighty men OF
war from Pittsburg male their movement
to the left to avoid passing under the BAN
ner the entire editorial staff OF the LHteAf.
geaeer, with Mr.. Green, were on Market